So this spawned from a discussion in the tracha matrix chat. We’re trying to come up with a list of any anime/manga that has trans representation, whether that’s good, bad, or meh. Here are the rules of what to include:

  1. Format (anime, manga, or both)
  2. Genre
  3. Title and brief description of the plot, major trans characters, and how well they are represented as trans.
  4. A simple rating of good, bad, or meh. This is so people can find good ones or avoid ones that are bad/problematic representations.

Hopefully these requirements make sense, but let me know if I should make any adjustments here.

  • Ananasova [she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
    5·
    2 months ago
    1. Manga
    2. Slice of life, romance, school life
    3. Kanojo ni Naritai Kimi to Boku (The Woman You Are and Me). This is manga about trans girl Akira Yonezawa and her friends. Hime Sakuragaike, another main character, is a cis girl who have been friends with Akira since childhood and she is secretely in love with Akira. Hime was the only person who knew that Akira is a girl for a few years but then Akira decided to live full-time as girl and started wearing female uniform in school because of this classmates started making fun of her which made Hime angry. To support her friend, Hime decided to wear male uniform in school. That’s how the story starts. The manga explores gender issues not only from trans perspective but from cis as well, how gender stereotypes might be harmful for everyone. Sexual/romantic attraction is also a theme of this manga, Hime fell in love with Akira before she came out, she still loves her but it makes her confused, there is also aroace character who tells about their experience. The manga is overall pretty wholesome and easy to read but there is some drama moments. I think it’s a good story about trans person, as a trans myself i relate to Akira, i think if you are cis and want to learn more about trans experience this manga is good for you too!
    4. Rating: GOOD
    1. Anime
    2. Slice of life, drama, music band
    3. Yoru no Kurage wa Oyogenai (Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night). I will just copy synopsis from MAL and then add my own note about trans character.

    Mahiru Kouzuki, a skilled artist, gives up on her passion after her elementary school classmates ridicule her colorful jellyfish mural. Several years later, upon encountering an unexpected admirer in Kano Yamanouchi—a former idol with a troubled past—Mahiru decides to pursue her childhood dreams once more. Tasked with designing the mascot for Kano’s new music project, JELEE, Mahiru enlists the help of her childhood friend and professional streamer Kiui Watase to make JELEE’s first music video. Together with Kim Anouk Mei Takanashi, a pianist and fan of Kano’s work as an idol, the girls aim to turn JELEE into a global hit. However, if they want to succeed in this ambitious endeavor, they will first have to free themselves from the shackles of their pasts.

    So, Kiui Watase is AFAB but they use male or NB character as vtuber model to stream. It’s a bit unclear if Kiui is transmasc or non-binary, the show never said what pronouns they prefer, so that’s why i use they/them. Kiui doesn’t like that people judge them by their appearance, it shows thorought out the anime. There is one scene that is especially memorable, it’s culmination of Kiui’s story, they said on public how they feel about their identity, it’s a short one but very powerful. The anime isn’t primary focused on Kiui or their gender identity but it’s part of the story, you won’t have the same story if you remove Kiui identity, I think it’s good representation.

    1. Rating: GOOD
    1. Anime
    2. Supernatural, suspense, thriller, drama
    3. Wonder Egg Priority. The anime deals with very heavy topics, the main theme is suicide. Main characters helps those who commit suicide in their afterlife to overcome their trauma by fighting with demons/monsters. Usually these monsters are people who traumatized them. Each main character also lost someone in their life which affects them a lot. This show deals with topics like: bullying, loneliness, shut-in/hikikomori, gender dysphoria, physical violence to minors. But despite all of this the anime doesn’t have only dark side, there are a good moments too that can make you smile, the main characters were lonely but they becomes friends and they just having fun spending time together. There is a lot of mysteries in show that becomes clears later on, it keeps you want to continue watching. However, not everything becomes clear. The ending made me confused, it feels rushed and leaves you with a lot of unanswered questions. Seems like authors wanted to make more episodes or make another season? It feels unfinished to me. So what about trans representation? I already mentioned gender dysphoria theme. One of the main characters, Momoe, is a trans girl (the show doesn’t explicity says that but there is a lot of signs). She is often being mistaken as a boy because of her androgynous appearance and she is popular with girls but it doesn’t make her happy because most of them think that she is a boy. Despite this the main group of characters accept her as girl although initially they misgenred her by mistake. The anime shows depict gender dysphoria very well, as someone who is early on HRT, lives in stealth and doesn’t have pass, it’s very relatable. What impress me in Momoe is that she can confidently say that she is a girl even in close to death, dangerous situations, she just says “I am a girl!” and it really inspire me because I am still strugling myself calling myself girl out loud. There is also a transmasc character but I won’t tell much about him because of spoilers, only will say that he is cool too!
    4. GOOD beginning and middle parts, MEH ending

    P.S. originally anime aired with 12 episodes, the 13 episode came out later separetely, I watched all of them, so what i said is related to all 13 episodes.

    • Belly_Beanis [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
      5·
      2 months ago

      That ending to Wonder Egg Priority was a dumpster fire. I have no idea how they went from making one of the best miniseries in all anime to making weird incel fan fiction in the final episodes. Did none of the writers, animators, or voice actors say “what the fuck?” I can’t believe multiple adults went along with it.

        • Belly_Beanis [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
          4·
          2 months ago

          CW: >!pedophiles!< (also spoilers)

          !The final episodes (I forget which ones) basically blame several girls for their own abuse. The whole series we’re led to believe the reason one girl commits suicide is because she was being sexually abused by her teacher. Then a flashback occurs to how the eggs were created, and we’re introduced to a robot girl that “falls in love” with her father figures, killing his wife and child out of jealousy. Then back to the present day, we find out this other girl was rejected by her teacher and that’s the reason for her suicide. It’s very “Wow females are crazy! They just keep throwing themselves at these older men. Surely no man has ever taken advantage of a child before.”!<

          !Reading commentary by the director (or producer, I dont remember which), the ending comes off like a self-insert. There were problems with production that caused numerous people to quit or get laid off, so it sounds like the original story writers were out of the picture and the exec was given free reign over the plot. He honestly didn’t see anything wrong with multiple underage characters lusting after adults.!<

          • Ananasova [she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
            3·
            2 months ago

            that’s gross.

            i think i didn’t interpret ending in this way because i was really confused at what was happening and idea “females are just crazy” doesn’t align with earlier episodes. Problems with production explains why the result is that messy.

            • Belly_Beanis [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
              4·
              2 months ago

              It really hit me out of nowhere. I heard the ending was bad, but I thought it was Dexter bad. No, it’s “This doesn’t seem like it’s even the same show” bad haha.

    • pooh [she/her]@hexbear.netOPEnglish
      3·
      2 months ago

      Wow! These all sound great and thank you very much for sharing!!! Funny enough, I’m in the process of watching Wonder Egg Priority and like it so far. I’m hoping the ending isn’t as bad as I’ve heard from some corners.

      • KobaCumTribute [she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
        3·
        2 months ago

        Just a note on Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night: it’s extremely egregious yuri bait and the plot as a whole does a massive 180 after the seventh episode to turn a story about living as who you want to be despite social pressure into some tepid slop about reconciling with abusive parents and bullies and conforming to what they want instead, with Kiui’s arc in episode 11 being the only part of the last 5 episodes that’s actually good and matches the earlier episodes in quality and themes. The whole thing is so egregious that it genuinely feels like there was a whole, complete story planned out, some executive came in and said “no, too gay, we’re rewriting it” and then either missed the trans rep or someone managed to protect that, because those last 5 episodes feel like a story that’s just been 90% erased and crudely filled in with filler by a different hand.